Questions tagged [closed-questions]

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Questions about practices related to specific computer science subfield -- when are they on topic?

There were recently two questions about specific, different, computer science subfield. Why do a lot of publications ignore better results from other papers // compare only to old results (example in ...
penelope's user avatar
  • 12k
-1 votes
1 answer
59 views

Rethinking "opinion-based"?

I recently asked a on academia.se "[If] people still read monographic dissertations (in the Natural Sciences)?", which was fairly well received. It seemed to have hit a nerve as it sparked a ...
mapf's user avatar
  • 167
12 votes
0 answers
280 views

Should we reopen the "cold temperature on exam performance" question?

A question titled Effect of cold temperatures on exam performance was recently closed. The question is decoupled from the "inciting incident" and simply asks if there is any scholarship on ...
cag51's user avatar
  • 68.8k
7 votes
1 answer
198 views

I asked for a software solution, question was closed as "shopping" - legit?

I asked this: How can I generate an elegant (academic) static CV web page? which got a couple of answers, including a very relevant one. The question was closed as a "shopping question", but ...
einpoklum's user avatar
  • 39.1k
-4 votes
3 answers
307 views

Is the following question technically low standard to our main site?

Please read the following question What all can be understood from more 'Review invitations sent'? The question received 3 close votes (2 duplicate & 1 community-specific reason) and 2 down votes. ...
hanugm's user avatar
  • 7,779
11 votes
2 answers
406 views

Why was the "monetary benefit for winning grants" question closed?

This question seems very straightforward to me: do professors get any financial "rewards" for winning grants? It seems like OP was wondering whether this explained why professors (who ...
cag51's user avatar
  • 68.8k
20 votes
3 answers
681 views

Is a question about the Nobel Prize committee/awardees on-topic here?

A question was recently asked about the gender distribution of the 2021 Nobel Prize laureates. I cast the deciding "close as off-topic" vote on this question. I felt this question was off-...
eykanal's user avatar
  • 48.4k
5 votes
2 answers
186 views

Should I answer a question that is likely to be closed?

We get many questions on Academia SE which are closed because they depend too much on the individual who is asking and thus cannot be sufficiently generalised to be helpful to a wider audience. ...
astronat supports the strike's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
171 views

Question hammered closed by community

Today, I noticed two questions being hammered closed by ā€œcommunity;ā€ here is one example: How can I appropriately call my professor?. While both questions might have been candidates for closure for ...
gnometorule's user avatar
  • 12.3k
9 votes
2 answers
438 views

Why was my question ("Any way to sync my Papers 2 library to my newer iPad?") closed?

My question (Any way to sync my Papers 2 library to my newer iPad?) was closed as off-topic today. To be honest, I hesitated before posting it because it felt not quite like an exact fit for this SE ...
mweiss's user avatar
  • 2,131
-5 votes
1 answer
176 views

If your essay limits 1500 words, can you just reference essay prompt without discussing it, then criticize it?

Apology for If your essay limits 1500 words, can you just reference essay prompt without discussing it, then criticize it?. How can I edit it so it doesn't strongly depend on individual factors? My ...
user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
692 views

Should we have a canonical question about degree revocation?

A first draft of the requested canonical question is now live here. Please help us out by editing the wiki and adding information. Can public political criticism of my alma mater result in my BA being ...
Anonymous Physicist's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
225 views

Can we reopen ā€œIs this statement on doing a PhD in Germany as a foreigner accurate for mathematics?ā€?

Is this statement on doing a PhD in Germany as a foreigner accurate for mathematics? was closed for being primarily opinion-based. It actually failed to be closed in the close queue, receiving three ...
Wrzlprmft's user avatar
  • 61.2k
10 votes
4 answers
409 views

How can we better react to askers who are having a mental health crisis?

We regularly get questions from people who describe symptoms of depression or anxiety. These are very common mental health problems. Some askers explicitly say they are depressed or anxious and it ...
Anonymous Physicist's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
239 views

Is asking advice from experienced people considered as off-topic?

This question entitled as "Leaving academia at 39" basically asks advice from people who had similar experience during their academic career. I believe that his question is highly relevant to academia,...
padawan's user avatar
  • 12.3k
-2 votes
3 answers
476 views

Why is the question about female students' evaluations of a particular faculty member's teaching still open?

The question was closed. Currently, my closure reason comment has 25 upvotes. There are several bad answers. I cannot find any comments about reopening (too many to read them all carefully.) Why ...
Anonymous Physicist's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
65 views

Is this question about citations on-topic or off-topic?

This question was first closed as off-topic and then reopened. The edits did not change the topic of the question, they only added and removed details. So if the question was off-topic, by keeping the ...
root's user avatar
  • 349
9 votes
2 answers
159 views

How far should we go when editing somebody elseā€™s question to prevent closure?

This is a follow-up to Should we reject an edit that fundamentally changes an off topic question on translating books?, where Buffy remarked: Let me note that there have been other questions here ...
Wrzlprmft's user avatar
  • 61.2k
2 votes
3 answers
203 views

Closure while writing an answer ā€“ can it be delayed?

I have fairly frequently been in the situation of being in the middle of providing an answer to a question when it is closed, leaving me no option but to discard my contribution or hope that the ...
Buffy's user avatar
  • 365k
0 votes
1 answer
103 views

A question was deleted by Community - why?

A question from a new user was recently deleted by Community. It had 0 votes to close and was seemingly a good question to me (I answered it). I am curious why it was deleted. Was something wrong with ...
Dmitry Savostyanov's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
75 views

What makes this question about time spent on writing reviews primarily opinion-based?

This question was closed as being primarily opinion-based. The question originally asked "how much time do you spend on reviewing a paper?". Put this way, the question was a bad fit for the Q&A, ...
henning's user avatar
  • 35.1k
1 vote
1 answer
173 views

Please help me correct my question

I removed the GRE and focused on the US specifically. For the average pure math US PhD program, what are essential topics after basics topics of complex analysis, abstract algebra and topology?
BCLC's user avatar
  • 3,157
5 votes
1 answer
241 views

Could we reopen this question ("unreasonably severe teacher")?

Could we reopen Is there anything I can do about an unreasonably severe teacher?? According to the help center, questions about "Requirements and expectations of academicians" are specifically on ...
Cullub's user avatar
  • 142
2 votes
1 answer
157 views

Why was this closed ("Do I have to sit again for TOEFL")

What is the motivation behind the close votes to Do I have to sit again for TOEFL?? It seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me. Please explain. "The answer to this question strongly depends ...
Federico Poloni's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
268 views

Why was ā€œFunding in mathematics from large companies as undergraduateā€ closed?

When I browse the questions on the issue of research funding, I found that this question was closed (I am not the author). Since I want to be more familiar with the norms of Academia Stack Exchange, I ...
Alan Lao's user avatar
  • 419
1 vote
2 answers
254 views

Why is ā€œWhat are illegal or/and inappropriate question on job interview?ā€ too broad?

The irony of putting on hold this question How should I handle questions about family/spouse on the job market? is that it limits my right to apply for any position without being the questioned why I ...
SSimon's user avatar
  • 3,669
0 votes
0 answers
87 views

Need a couple of examples of questions that are too hypothetical to keep open

I've read several questions here about whether a certain question is too hypothetical. A nice rule of thumb I read at one of these was that in a not-too-hypothetical question (i.e. an acceptable ...
aparente001's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
160 views

Please help edit this question so it can be reopened

This question is about getting educational disability accommodations in the UK. Come on, people. This is an area Academia SE needs to get stronger in. We have pretty good coverage about Section 504 ...
aparente001's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
51 views

Should the question looking for ArXiv alternatives for math and physics be reopened?

What are pre-print repositories for math and physics alternative to ArXiv? As the question is focus on math and physics solely, it isn't a dupe of the other question. Should it be reopened?
Ooker's user avatar
  • 8,266
2 votes
1 answer
73 views

Reopening question about becoming a good advisor?

I recently asked a question which recieved some attention. But was closed as off-topic (Shopping question). Basically my question is about training or which steps I can take to become a good advisor. ...
llrs's user avatar
  • 1,182
5 votes
2 answers
191 views

Is this a shopping question?

The original version of this question How will the academic boycot of Israel (BDS) infulence my career if I get a PhD in Israel received two close votes (among the other votes) for the following ...
Orion's user avatar
  • 4,753
6 votes
2 answers
239 views

How to make the question asking for books on academia/science not a shopping list?

Is there a (text)book on how academia works? I agree that it looks like a shopping request as its current form, but it is stemmed from the question "how to have a systematic understanding on how ...
Ooker's user avatar
  • 8,266
4 votes
1 answer
65 views

My question about zbMATH is closed as duplicate but it is not

I'd like to have my question ZbMATH and conflict of interest reopened. It needs a vote or two more. The claimed duplicate is Under what circumstances is there a conflict of interest for a researcher ...
Tommi's user avatar
  • 8,904
2 votes
1 answer
143 views

When the close reason is the answer

This question Can a non-committee-member ask questions while watching a friend's PhD defense? has been closed for depending on individual factors. While there is no question in my mind, and in ...
StrongBad's user avatar
  • 104k
1 vote
1 answer
82 views

Modifying "What is PhD Level research?" to be less broad

Recently I asked the question What is PhD Level research? and it was closed as too broad. I was worried about the broadness of the question and that's why I tried to limit the question to the "US ...
Mark Omo's user avatar
  • 101
3 votes
2 answers
153 views

Defining Shopping again

Recently, my question was closed for shopping. However, how shopping is described on meta does not seem to match my question. The meta question I link to outlines three possible characteristics of a ...
WetlabStudent's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
84 views

Is a general question discussing differences in research methodology in different fields too broad?

This question pertains to the issue raised from this post. I basically asked a question about the differences in generating ideas, writing and publishing an academic journal in different fields. I ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
74 views

How to suggest edits for locked posts?

I was looking at the question here: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/80469/19607 which is currently locked and was rejected for migration from Math SE. I agree the question is not appropriate ...
Kimball's user avatar
  • 32.3k
3 votes
1 answer
367 views

Double degree: why was this question closed as duplicate?

I think that the closure of the question Double PhD: is it really worth it? as duplicate of Is doing two PhD's a good path? is based on a wrong assumption. A double PhD degree is a single PhD ...
Massimo Ortolano's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
102 views

Are questions about formatting and presenting results off-topic?

I recently asked this question about formatting presentation of tables contents in academic publications. I saw that those tags exist on this site and each one has a set of questions. I saw in the ...
WBT's user avatar
  • 4,029
-2 votes
1 answer
154 views

By what process was this question reopened?

It took a while to gather the 5 close votes to close this question: What rights do students in the U.S. have re gender pronouns? My comment giving my reason to vote to close it was voted up 15 times ...
Cape Code's user avatar
  • 27.1k
3 votes
2 answers
67 views

Question I answered was closed, should I transfer my answer to referenced question?

I provided an answer to this question 'Consequences for publishing final version PDF, in violation of publisher policies?' which was closed for being a duplicate of this question: 'How often do ...
J. Roibal - BlockchainEng's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
177 views

Why is that question too broad?

I don't understand what the following question got closed as too broad. It simply asks for some studies on a specific question. Since no close voter left a comment regarding the "too broad" ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
804 views

Why was my question about fighting junk science so poorly received?

A few weeks ago I have asked a question that I believe is about a major challenge that academia faces today and will increasingly face in the future (I deleted it since then because of the reactions ...
Cape Code's user avatar
  • 27.1k
-1 votes
2 answers
172 views

Should seemingly hard-to-answer questions be downvoted (and closed)?

I have posted a couple of questions on this website. Based on this small dataset, there seem to be a trend that hard-to-answer questions get downvoted, and even closed for some random reason (too ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
111 views

What should a reviewer do if an edit changes the possible close reason of a question?

This question has been recently edited by the owner and has now one reopen vote. I think that the question has now essentially become a duplicate of this other one. When reviewing the question, I ...
Massimo Ortolano's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
73 views

How can I improve this question?

I wonder how I can improve this question. Unfortunately, I cannot ask it as a comment as the post is locked. By how, I mean in terms of content (what is unclear?), as well as technically (how can I ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
122 views

Would there be a way to save this question that generated the weirdest thread I've seen here?

I saw this question: Why not outsource the research projects to phd students? It's so badly formulated that it generated a series of comments and answers that have no real connection with each ...
Cape Code's user avatar
  • 27.1k
9 votes
2 answers
361 views

Why was this question closed for "shopping?"

I am still unsure why this question: List of 2013 US National Merit Scholars was closed. Here's the close reason used. "Shopping" questions, which seek recommendations or lists of individual ...
Compass's user avatar
  • 5,992
4 votes
3 answers
158 views

Why was a previously closed question reopened

This question concerning the value about traditional lecture, which was posted by me a long time ago, was closed due to being too broad. However, recently the question was reopened and, judging from ...
Drecate's user avatar
  • 6,570